Reliance Industries on Friday said that their offer of roaming facility across 673 cities on WLL phones was "well within the licence conditions" and the company has communicated this to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
"We have replied to TRAI's clarification with regard to our advertisement of offering roaming on WLL phone. We have said that this is as per the licence condition," Mukesh
Ambani, chairman of the Reliance Group, told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting between Communication Minister Arun Shourie and telecom service providers.
TRAI had sought clarification from Reliance Infocomm about their proposed WLL telephone services, especially with regard to its roaming facility. The Cellular Operators Association of India has already challenged this in the Telecom Tribunal saying offering raoming on WLL was "breach of licence conditions."
Asked about TRAI's opinion to Reliance's reply, Ambani said, "We do not know that. We have recently written to them."
TRAI has also sought clarification from another WLL operator, Tatas, about their coverage beyond licensing area of Delhi.
Earlier this week, TRAI's counsel Meet Malhotra had told TDSAT that the Tatas had given an assurance to TRAI that their services would not be available in cities of Gurgaon, Noida and Faridabad as part of Delhi licence.
Ambani said Reliance Infocomm's basic services would be available in Delhi and other cities by the end of next month.
Asked whether Reliance Infocomm officials met TRAI to resolve the row over roaming facility on WLL phones, Ambani said, "No. We have sent them a written communication."
The case filed by COAI will come up for hearing in TDSAT on February 17 while the main WLL petition is scheduled for hearing on February 24.
Reliance has licence for offering basic telecom services in 18 states and has promised to charge Rs 0.40 per minute for an outgoing call with free incoming and SMS facility.
The company has launched its initial package of Rs 3000 down payment along with 36 equal monthly installments of Rs 600 and in return the company was offering free handset along 400 minutes of outgoing calls free of cost.